High School Skills Curriculum
Empowering Complex Problem Solvers
The Franklin School Skills Curriculum is designed to equip students with the tools and mindset needed to tackle the world’s most intricate challenges. At the heart of this high school prep curriculum is Systems Thinking, where students are introduced to the interconnected nature of real-world problems. Through two dedicated courses — Introduction to Systems Thinking (grade 9) and Complex and Adaptive Systems (grade 10) — students learn to see beyond isolated issues, identifying the broader structures and feedback loops that shape outcomes.
To complement this foundational knowledge, students are also immersed in the skills of futures thinking, epistemology, perspective taking, agile thinking, artificial intelligence, data analysis, and narrative analysis. These transdisciplinary skills build students' capacity to evaluate, adapt, and innovate within complex environments.
Throughout the curriculum, students engage with wicked problems, challenges that are multifaceted and resistant to simple solutions. They deconstruct the systems surrounding these problems, uncover causal loops that either reinforce or balance the system, and identify the leverage points where change can be made. By reflecting on past decisions and engaging in evidence-based research, students develop well-informed, creative strategies for transforming systems and solving these deep-rooted issues.
This curriculum fosters a generation of thinkers capable of navigating uncertainty, making sound judgments, and leading innovative change in an increasingly complex world.
Skills 100 | Grade 9
At Franklin, Skills 100, is where students learn how to think deeply, act thoughtfully, and shape the future with confidence. Meeting twice a week throughout the year, this course helps students develop essential transdisciplinary capabilities — knowledge-based reasoning, adaptability, collaboration, empathy and perspective taking, systems thinking, futures thinking, communication and storytelling, agency, and reflection — through inquiry, reflection, and real-world application.
Module 1: Systems Thinking
Students begin by exploring how systems shape our world. Through mapping projects and collaborative analysis, they uncover how interconnected factors — social, environmental, and personal — affect outcomes and drive change.
- Systems Mapping
- System Behavior Analysis
- Stakeholder Mapping
Module 2: Adaptability
In this module, students learn to embrace challenges and adapt creatively. They practice flexible problem-solving, build resilience through iteration and feedback, and strengthen collaboration and communication skills.
- Pause, Pivot Persevere
- Thinking Routines
- Embracing Ambiguity
- Iteration and Feedback Loops
- Conflict and Collaboration
- Resilient Relationships
Module 3: Ways of Knowing & Perspective Taking
Students explore how people acquire knowledge through reason, emotion, intuition, and ethics to understand and interpret the world. They engage in thoughtful dialogue, develop empathy, and learn to value diverse perspectives in decision-making.
- Reason and Logic
- Emotion and Motivation
- Role of Intuition
- Ethical Perspectives
Module 4: Futures Thinking
In the final module, students look ahead — imagining possibilities and designing pathways toward preferred futures. Using futures tools such as scenario planning and backcasting, they tackle complex global challenges, culminating in a problem-framing project centred on biodiversity loss.
- Scenario Planning
- Trend Analysis
- Backcasting
- Preferred Futures
- Problem Framing
Skills 100 empowers students to connect ideas, adapt to change, and approach the future with curiosity and purpose — hallmarks of a Franklin learner.
Skills 200 | Grade 10
At Franklin, Skills 200 builds on the foundation of Skills 100, guiding students to think critically, research deeply, and collaborate effectively as they engage with complex, real-world challenges. Meeting twice a week, this course strengthens students' capability in nine crucial transdisciplinary capabilities: knowledge-based reasoning, adaptability, collaboration, empathy and perspective taking, systems thinking, futures thinking, communication and storytelling, agency, and reflection.
Module 1: Complex and Adaptive Systems
Students explore how dynamic systems evolve and respond to change, distinguishing between complicated and complex structures while developing the tools to analyze them effectively. Students engage in problem framing the systems involved in Climate Change.
- Emergence
- Archetypes
- Linear vs Non-Linear Systems
Module 2: Complex Problem Framing – Climate Change
Through inquiry and research, students examine global issues such as climate change, identifying root causes, stakeholders, and potential pathways for sustainable solutions.
- Collaboration and Productive Conflict
- Accountability
- Catalytic Questioning
- Synthesis
Module 3: Knowledge Based Reasoning: Analyzing, Evaluating and Building Arguments AP Seminar Preparation
This module prepares students to refine their academic writing and communication skills through tasks that require them to evaluate and synthesize evidence, identify lines of reasoning, and respond to counterclaims. Students apply what they learned to analyze and articulate evidence-based arguments.
- Analyzing arguments
- Evaluating Arguments
- Data Visualization
- Data Analysis
- Gap Analysis
- System Intervention
- Indigenous Ways of Knowing
- Presentation Skills
Module 4: Industry Insider Challenge
In the culminating experience, students apply their learning to a real-world industry challenge — collaborating in teams to design research-informed solutions and present their findings to an authentic audience.
- Stakeholder mapping
- Transdisciplinary Research Methods
- Design Thinking
- Collaboration with Non-Academic Actors
Skills 200 cultivates intellectual rigor and adaptability, guiding students to explore complexity, construct knowledge, and engage thoughtfully with the world.